My Journey from Fatman to 140.6 Triathlete

05-03 SCAD 5k

Local 5k to support Sudden Coronary Arterial Dissection.

http://www.scadresearch.org/solution/scad-research-walk/

I did this race as a training day to support a friend and a good cause.

It rained the night before, so I knew it was going to be a bit slick as it was a trail run. I’ve barely been running, let along on trails, so this should be interesting! But what the heck, it’s for a good cause.

I get there late, as it took longer to drive than expected. I rush in, meet my friends, get registered (did not register in advance) and then run to the car and drop off my stuff. That was an omen, as I tightened up pretty fast. No time for stretching or other warm up. I figured I could take it easy at first and warm up then… right?

We cheered for the parade of survivors, truly inspiring. Each of these people suffered from and survived SCAD – unfortunately, most do not survive.

They gathers us up and we get going. I start off slow, an easy trot. Almost immediately the footing gets bad. I walk/run and chat with some folks as the pack moves away from me (which is TOTALLY ok, I’m there to do my own thing). Well, within 10 minutes both shins have cramped to the point of locking up. Ouch. Literally, ouch. I try to stretch… I try to walk… I stretch some more… nothing is getting them to relax!

Unfortunately, this never changes. Within 20minutes I’m barely over a mile. Yes, barely a mile. I give up and hopes to run and just work on walking, which I can barely do. The walkers are not overtaking me… swell. Not so good on the ego.

I finish in an all time Personal Worst of 1 hour 2 minutes. Even when I weights 300lbs I was faster than that. I was last, by far, as well. Been a long time since I was DFL (dead f***ing last). However, I just couldn’t bring myself to DNF (did not finish). I wasn’t hurt, just a little stupid and so I walked and enjoyed the nice day and conversation with walkers as they passed me by.